Flaming umbrellas, absurd bicycles, DIY robots, and more gonzo creations found their way to the San Francisco Bay area this weekend. Here are the choicest sights from Maker Faire 2012

Bicycle Clock

Bicycle Clock

It's time to go cycling. Gregory de Gouveia built this big bike clock from junk cycles people had thrown out. By rigging up combinations of 4:1, 3:1, 2.5:1, and 2:1 gear ratios, de Gouveia got the 12:1 and 60:1 ratios necessary for a proper timepiece capable of clocking seconds, minutes, and hours.

A combination of a car battery and solar panel keeps the cycle clock ticking. The piece will run on solar power alone, but de Gouveia demonstrated to PM that if even a tiny portion of the panel were temporarily shaded from the hot California sun, the clock would slow down and get out of whack.

Backward Bike

Backward Bike

Gregory de Gouveia also brought this crazy cycle to the back lot of Maker Faire. It's built so that the rider facing backward can pedal forward and still contribute to propulsion, but his handlebars are fixed so that only the forward-facing rider—de Gouveia in this video—can steer. I took a ride on the back of this creation and it's certainly a trust exercise—the bike dips and turns, but you have no control.